Thin line between love and hate
by deeda
Summary: Writing after a very long time so please be kind!


Ok I don't know where this one- shot has come from but it is definitely AU. I have taken lots of liberties with storylines/ timelines but I have hopefully stayed true to the characters of CM. As always I don't own anything except this slightly convoluted story.

Oh and this is my first attempt at an M story- let me know what you guys think!

**JJ POV**

She absolutely HATED him. All smug looking with his confident walk and talk and killer good looks! Yes that was the first thing that she had noticed about him when he had walked into her office… well maybe walked wasn't the correct term, it was more like marched in like he owned the place! His team took a stance that was similar to their formidable leader and knew exactly how to command the attention of the room and frankly she was now sick of it. After 3 days, Jennifer Jareau was quickly coming to the conclusion that inviting the BAU to "assist" in her latest case was a big mistake. And yes it was "ASSIST" and not "takeover the entire investigation and freeze the local team out". That was it she was going to ask (more like ORDER) them to leave! Ha that will show them who was in charge here! With her mind made up the tiny blonde quickly got ready for work and left her tiny apartment. She knew that she was going in at least an hour before anyone else showed up… well anyone other than Aaron Hotchner who had the MOST ANNOYING habit of beating her to the office. She knew that he wasn't sleeping there (she just HAD to ask… not that she would ever admit it to another living soul) and she couldn't figure out how he was always there at 7am looking like he has just walked out of the latest issue of GQ while she was progressively starting to looking like an old beggar lady. Sure she showered every morning and her clothes were fresh and new (and she also took a couple of minutes extra to put on some makeup!) but she felt like an unkempt sack next to him. She was not one of those uber- amazing women who managed to come to work each morning in 4" heels. No despite her diminutive size JJ had settled on shorter heels that allowed her to walk and if required run without falling flat on her face and if that meant that she was shortest of all the members of her then she was completely fine with it. Well she was fine with it till Agent Hot-Stuff showed up and made her re-think her wardrobe (NOT that she was thinking about that asshole when she was getting ready in the morning !). To make matters even worse since she was the local person in-charge and he was the Unit Chief of the BAU she was forced to spend the majority of the last 3 days in close quarters with the man. She knew how he smelt (absolutely DIVINE), how he felt (his hands had brushed across hers- Get your mind out of the gutter!- and they were both coarse and soft at the same time! NOT that she thought about it!). But his physicality aside, what infuriated her, the most about the man was his attitude. He was calm and while she knew that he wasn't as closely attached to the case as she was it was still a very horrendous case and any normal human being would be frustrated by their lack of leads and increase in dead bodies. Any normal human being would apparently not include the esteemed Agent Hotchner because he was the epitome of cool! There were times when she greatly appreciated his even keel stance- like yesterday when the parents of the latest victim, Lisa Graves, had practically exploded on her in their grief and desperation- Aaron Hotchner had managed to quietly step in and calm frayed nerves. But there were other times when they were standing in front of the white board staring at all the information (or lack thereof) that they had on their Unsub that she wished that he would just react. Just show some of the frustrations that she was feeling and unfortunately taking out on some of the junior members of her team (was it too much to ask that the coffee pot always be brewing? If you take the last cup- JUST ADD MORE WATER! It's not rocket science people!). But no the man remained as stoic as ever without flinching or crumbling. All this was really not helped by the fact that when she did go home and manage to fall asleep she was plagued by dreams of him. Vivid dreams of an increasing erotic nature- she dreamt of him just claiming her in the small conference that they had set up for the BAU. She would feel his coarse/soft hand running all over her body till she woke up a trembling mass of nerves aching for relief. She was forced to find relief on her own but it never fully satisfied her and she knew that some of the whispers of "frigid bitch" and "needs to get laid" were probably right but as the youngest sheriff in Falls Creek history she was entitled to behave as she wished as long as she got the job done. The ends justify the means right? But that still did not help in the matter at hand and that was the current bane of her existence, Agent Aaron Hotchner. It also didn't help that most of the female staff of her small office was practically swooning over the man and insisted on telling him every detail of the investigation personally. Honestly, if this case wasn't resolved soon she was afraid that an "Aaron Hotchner Fan Club" would spring up and then where would she be. Her medical examiner ("Anna") was practically salivating whenever they were there and she was married with 2 kids and unfortunately one of JJ's closest friends.

Anyway, enough was enough and today was the day that Jennifer Jareau was going to tell the BAU thank you for all your help but her team could take it from here! I mean they must be missing their families right and it couldn't be fun being stuck out here in the middle of nowhere in a dead end case! With her mind made up the tiny blonde made her way through the still mainly dark office to the conference room.

"Morning Agent Hotchner!" She honestly tried to be chipper but it was too early and she was too tired and he was too much in her thoughts.

"Sheriff.." he trailed off and it was then that she realized that he was reading through an unfamiliar report.

"What's that?"

"Oh I had my TA back at Quantico look into similar crimes across the country and she has come up with a somewhat similar incident back in the 90's. It was in California and while the MO is not exactly the same there are enough similarities to warrant a closer look." With that his dark gaze dropped back to the papers in front of him.

Perhaps it was because she was just tired or maybe it was because of the way that he just dismissed her but she felt her anger flare inside her and before she could think she was talking (or more like yelling)

"You know WHAT? You think that you are "oh-so-cool" with your fancy databases and resources but we work hard to solve cases the old fashioned way around here! I am sorry that our facilities don't meet your high expectations but we are here and we are trying to protect our community from a lunatic who seems to have taken a fancy to the young women of Creek Falls and finds some perverse pleasure in humiliating them before killing them and then putting them on display for all to see. You see these faces? I went to school with some of these women Agent Hotchner and they were my friends. I won't let their deaths be another statistic in a database. I will not rest till I find this asshole and bring justice to the families of these women. So you can look into your old files and your fancy gadgets but you can do it from your fancy office. I am officially withdrawing my request for assistance! Thank you for all your help but we can take it from here!" with those words she spun on her heel and stormed out. She was blinking furiously to keep the tears at bay and for the millionth time was grateful that he was the only one in the office. She made a beeline for the ladies room and once safely locked away let the tears fall. Hot rivers of salty water made their trails over her cheeks adding some much needed colour to her face. Once she was able to control herself again she left the small cubicle and made her way to the sink to fix her face. She felt like she was staring at a ghost. Her nose was red as were her eyes but she had deep dark circles around her eyes and the concealer that she had put on the morning was long gone. She normally bright blue eyes were flat and dull and it looked like she had been starved and beaten. She cursed the fact that her bag was still lying in the conference room so she could not reapply her make-up but just washed her face to some form of respectability and quietly made her way back out. She wanted to sneak in, grab her things and make her way into her office till the rest of the world arrived.

Her grand plans were cut short when on exiting the bathroom she saw Agent Hotchner's tall frame leaning on the wall opposite the door. His dark gaze met hers when she walked out and he spoke before she could:

"Are you ok?"

"Yes. I apologize for getting upset with you." With those words she tried to walk around him but he gently grabbed her elbow to pull her in front of him

"Please don't lie to me!" His words caused her eyes to jump up to his and she was shocked to see compassion and pain in them. "I know that you are working very hard but this man has been one step ahead of us each time which is why I think that this is not his first time doing something like this. He is too good to be a beginner." JJ found herself nodding at his line of thinking and knew that she would have thought the same if she was thinking rationally. Being so close to him was playing havoc on her senses and she was only concentrating on keeping her hands clamped tightly by her sides. Her body ached to touch him- to feel his arms around her- to rest her head on his chest and just let everything go. His voice snapped her back to the present:

"But I think you mentioned something very interesting there, you mentioned that you went to school with some of these women which got me thinking that maybe the commonalities between the women went further back then we initially anticipated. We know that the Unsub is not choosing these women randomly but has a reason for going after these specific women. Perhaps they knew him from school and that is why he is targeting them."

"But all of them weren't in my year or school so it has to be something else. I could ask my guys to look into the backgrounds of the vics and see if something pops up."

"Actually Garcia is already doing that…"  
>and seeing her frown he hastily added "it will just be faster since she has access to all databases. But there is something else that you can assist me with if you have time?"<p>

She ignored his deliberate use of safe words and nodded at him to continue "Well I was thinking if we could go through the lives of the vics that you knew and if you can recall anything that they may have been involved with or something…"

She knew that he was trying to placate her and get her into a better mood without seeming too obvious but she was too tired to call him on it so she just nodded and started walking towards the conference room.

They were still pouring over the histories an hour later when the rest of her and his team walked in. By mid afternoon Garcia had unhappily informed them that there appeared to be nothing in the past connecting the victims and her nationwide/ database wide/ decade wide search for similar crimes had not yielded any results. Both JJ and Hotch (after the incident the morning he has insisted that she call him that) had begrudgingly admitted that without a fresh lead (or a fresh victim) they had nothing to go on and decided to call it a day at about 6 in the evening. Members of both the local and the visiting teams decided to head to a bar a few doors down from the station for a couple of drinks before heading home but JJ was beyond exhausted and decided to head home.

**Hotch POV**

As he rolled out of bed Hotch hoped that today was a better day than yesterday because he was not sure whether he could survive another day like yesterday. Every day that he spent in close quarters with the beautiful Jennifer Jareau had been hell on his nerves but yesterday had been almost too much to bear. Seeing her beautiful eyes fill up with tears and her exhausted stance as yet another day passed without any progress almost had him reaching for her. Actually he had reached for her- he had grabbed her elbow under the pretext of stopping her from walking away and it had taken every ounce of his control not to pull her small frame into his chest like he wanted to. She didn't know what she did to his long dormant libido with her cute head tilts and pouty lips. He was taking freezing showers every morning in order to rid himself of the dreams that plagued him all night long. Dreams so vivid that he was almost expecting her naked frame to be lying next to him in bed each morning! He had to physically restrain himself from grabbing her sometimes when they were alone and she fixed her beautiful blue gaze on him- full of innocence but he just knew that she had a little minx hidden under her formal exterior. He had seen brief glimpses of it when she was trying to get someone to do her a favour- the head would tilt, the bottom lip would disappear and the eyes would widen. There was no man alive who could say no to that face!

Rubbing the sleep and indecent thoughts from his mind Hotch stepped into the shower and got ready to start the day. He arrived at the station at his usual time of 730 am and patiently waited the arrival of the blonde woman who plagued his thoughts. He started arriving earlier and earlier every day so that he could precious moments alone with her before the world arrived. He felt that alone he could watch her without being afraid of getting caught even though Rossi had caught him staring at her a few times during the day as well. In any case he was slightly more excited about today since he had (FINALLY) managed to convince JJ to call him Hotch and while hearing his name drop from her pink lips brought some unbidden images to his head he preferred the pain in order to just hear her sweet voice call him. He wondered what she would look like screaming his name in the throes of passion. Oh how he wanted to make her scream! He took several deep breaths to bring his body under control and started re-reading the files while waiting for his companion to arrive.

He was so engrossed in his reading that he sort of lost track of time till Rossi knocked on the door to tell him that the toxicology results from the last victim were there and in line with the other vics showed no signs of any drugs being in the girl's system at the time of her death. Hotch looked at the time and was shocked to see that it was almost 10am. "Ok Thanks Dave! Ummm Dave have you seen JJ this morning?" The question was supposed to be innocently asked but seeing the smug grin spread across his old friend's face had Aaron convinced that it would be a long time before he would be rid of the JJ teasing.

"Actually no I haven't seen your girlfriend this morning Aaron- Maybe she decided to sleep in?" Dave pointedly ignored the glare that Aaron was sending his way and moved back outside. "Hey has anyone heard from Sheriff Jareau this morning?"

His question was met with a deathly silence and that was when Hotch officially started to panic. "Ok, Morgan, you and Rossi are with me along with Harris and Fernandez, we will go and check out JJ's place while Prentiss you and Reid get in touch with Garcia and find out how her search is going. Also I want you to run the GPS on JJ's phone and let me know where she is." Hotch barked out the orders and the room erupted in a flurry of activity. The smaller team was well on its way to JJ's apartment when Garcia called to confirm that JJ's phone was still at her apartment. This piece of information caused Hotch's heart to sink further as he realized that they were probably not going to like what they would find at their destination.

Quickly entering JJ's small home Hotch was surprised to find a cozy place with lots of memories scattered about. It was a well lived in place even though he knew that JJ wasn't home too often. Quietly the small team moved from room to room before coming to a stop outside the closed bedroom door. Taking a deep breath and counting down, the boys entered the room to a sight that stopped them short. It looked like a tornado had made its way through the tiny room- the and pillows and sheets on the bed were tossed onto the floor as if the bed's occupant had been disturbed in her sleep but she had still put up a fight. The mirror on the small dresser had shattered and the items on the dressers were scattered messily all over the floor. There was a scary looking blood stain on the far wall as if someone had been pushed into it and there was a bloody palm print near the door frame. But that was it- despite all the destruction inside the room there was complete harmony outside the room. Not a single blood drop anywhere in the small home. No signs of a struggle- it almost seemed like the bedroom and the rest of the apartment were 2 completely different places.

Taking the scene in, Morgan was the first to speak "So it seems like he surprised her in bed- she put up one hell of a fight but by the lack of struggle outside the bedroom it appears that subdued her here and then just calmly carried her out. I doubt that she would have gone down quietly."

Nodding his head, Hotch quickly ordered Harris and Fernandez to start questioning the neighbours in the hope that someone somewhere had heard/seen something. Turning to his team, he said "Guys, we know that she wouldn't have gone down without leaving some sort of a clue as to who her kidnapper is. We just need to find it."

"Hotch don't you think that someone from her team- someone who knows her should look for it? I mean we have known her for only a few days- we are more likely to miss it!" Rossi interrupted.

"I know but I don't think that we can ignore the fact that maybe this Unsub has someone on the inside giving him information of the investigation. He has been too good and always one step ahead for me to ignore that possibility. I want this to be just us as much as possible." Hotch didn't have to add that this case had now become extremely personal to him because the team knew their leader well enough to see his blatant attraction to the young blonde.

The room gave them nothing except that the young sheriff had fought tooth and nail till the Unsub had overpowered her and it was late in the evening when the members of the BAU finally left the home disheartened.

He didn't sleep a wink that night as thoughts of JJ's predicament plagued his mind- where was she? Was she ok? Was he hurting her the way he hurt the other vics? What was the connection between all the victims? He knew that it was something that was staring up at his face from the white board but his mind just couldn't see it. Walking into the Sheriff's office early the next morning Hotch was surprised to see a package waiting at the reception for him. It was wrapped in brown paper and had his name scrawled on the top. On opening it Hotch discovered a small box containing a USB drive. Quickly inserting it into the nearest computer he was horrified but what he saw. It was a video- of JJ- bloody and tied to a bed. Her mouth was taped shut and her hands were tied to the headboard. The picture was grainy but Hotch could make out the soiled sheets on the bed and the grey dirty wall behind the bed. Her eyes were bright with fear and Hotch could make out the tracks of tears on her dirty cheeks. The Unsub had her sitting upright on the bed so her hands were behind her and her legs were stretched out in front of her and tightly tied together. After a few seconds the Unsub began to speak off screen: "Agent Hotchner, as you can see Jennifer is doing fine and enjoying my fine hospitality (at this point he reached across to run a finger down her cheek which made JJ flinch and Hotch's blood boil). She is such a feisty one that I think that I will enjoy her the most which is why I am sending you this to show that I am willing to negotiate Jennifer's release. You see unlike my other lady friends I actually like Jennifer and I know that you are enamored with her too so here is what I propose: you will have your dear Jennifer back as soon as she tells me where the girl is hidden. Please don't insult my intelligence but asking who I am talking about because I know that Jennifer knows exactly who I am talking about. So you see Agent Hotchner I really aren't as bad as you and your team have made me out to be. I am merely searching for the love of my life like most men and as soon as dear Jennifer tells me I shall let her go. Of that I give you my word! Oh but you must understand that IF Jennifer chooses not to cooperate with me then I shall be forced to use some of the coercive methods that I used with my other lady friends. So you see how this entire situation plays out is actually in Jennifer's very capable hands!"

The camera then zoomed in close to JJ's face and went dark. Hotch stood stock still for a couple of seconds before reaching for the phone and calling everyone in. He sent the video to Garcia for her to scour the footage for any clues as to JJ's location along with running an analysis on the Unsub's voice. By the end of the day he had the video memorized but he couldn't get the image of JJ's scared and haunted eyes out of his mind. He had Morgan and Prentiss run down every woman and child put in witness protection and jail during JJ's term as a sheriff to determine who exactly the Unsub could be talking about. The one thing that kept niggling Hotch's mind was the connection between the victims. They were of similar ages and were all women but that was about it. Some had attended the same school while others went to the same supermarket; some were employed while others were stay-at-home moms. There was nothing that connected all the women together and particularly nothing that could possibly connect them to a missing person. Garcia had sent them files of all missing persons in Creek Falls and surrounding counties for the last 30 years but there was no one who sprang out at them. Hotch was certain that whoever the Unsub was searching for was right in front of them if only he had something to point him in the right direction.

JJ had been missing for 48 hours when Garcia called with a breakthrough. "Hello my lovelies I think I may have something that may strike your fancy. Well as you know that Hotch had me looking into the histories of all our vics in order to find a connection and it turns out that the vics were connected but not during their lives." On seeing the blank faces of her team members Garcia continued, "Well it turns out that the mothers of all 5 of our victims attended the same boarding school in California back in the 60's/ 70's. In fact, not only did they attend together, they were all really good friends. The girls all shared the same dorm and were known as the "Branford Sisters" since they all lived at Branford Hall. And yes before you ask JJ's mother was also a student there. As it turns out that a girl named Leslie Manning also lived at Branford at the same time but disappeared after 2 weeks of getting there. There were very strong rumours at the time that the remaining Branford Sisters had hurt Leslie in some way because it was very well known fact that the Sisters did not want Leslie staying at Branford Hall. The police questioned all the Sisters but never found Leslie or her remains."

"That's great Garcia but how is any of this linked to our Unsub?" Morgan was too exhausted for pleasantries and long stories.

"I am getting to it my snarky one- so last year Branford Hall was closed down for repairs and the school contacted the local charity to help clear out its old record room. Amongst the papers that were found there was a personal journal of one of the Sisters in which it was written that the Sisters had planned to take Leslie out into the woods surrounding the school as part of her initiation. The journal doesn't say exactly what happened on the night but only says that the Sisters had taken a blood oath to never talk about that night again. A grand jury felt that since the writer of the journal was unidentified and that since most of the Sisters had since died or moved away it would be pointless to drudge up such painful memories and the investigation into the journal was stopped. Frank Simmons who claimed to be Leslie's boyfriend at the time of her disappearance was furious at the decision and claimed that he would never rest till he found out what happened to Leslie."

"Garcia where is Frank now?" Hotch could not keep the eagerness out of his voice.

"Well boss that's the problem Frank kind of fell off the radar about 6 months ago- he sold his house, cleaned out his accounts- basically just fell off the planet."

"No, we know that he is in Falls Creek and that he has JJ." Rossi interjected. "It has to be Frank, Hotch. He is making his way through the daughters of the Branford Sisters in the hopes of finding out information about Leslie. I am guessing that he took JJ last because he knew that taking her would get him the most attention."

"I agree Dave but it is highly unlikely that JJ knows anything about Leslie. Prentiss talk to Anna and find out what you can about JJ's relationship with her mother. We need to know if JJ knows what Frank expects her to know."

"Reid, put Frank's name and picture out there. If he is here then someone must have seen him." Hotch barked out the orders and the profiler knew better than to hang around. Hotch' nerves were frayed and if they didn't find the young blonde soon he would just snap.

With every passing hour Hotch was getting increasingly concerned about JJ. The Unsub had made no effort to contact them again and Hotch knew that if JJ didn't give something that would satisfy the deranged man then she was in some serious trouble. He wished that there was something that he could do to keep her safe. The team finally caught a break when 2 days later a package arrived once again bearing Aaron Hotchner's name early in the morning. There was another USB and another video. This time JJ looked much worse for wear with bruised cheekbones and there was a steady stream of tears running down her face. Hotch's heart stopped when he looked at the way her clothes were ripped and haphazardly thrown on- the deep rooted fear in JJ's eyes left no room for doubt in his mind that the Unsub had tried to force himself on the young woman. Hotch knew that while JJ was trying very hard to stay strong, she was running out of time so he decided to take a gamble.

The news conference was held early so that it could make the 6'o clock news and the BAU made sure that every local and national news organization was present. Hotch spoke directly into the camera, with a stoic face that betrayed none of the emotions that were raging inside him. He mentioned how the team had discovered some valuable information regarding an old case out in California. Hotch made sure that repeatedly mentioned Leslie's name and Garcia had circulated an old photograph of Leslie's to run with the news. Hotch told Frank that he would get the information as soon as he let JJ go. Once the news was out, the team knew that it would not be long before Frank contacted them.

Sure enough the next morning the tip line rang and dispatcher informed Hotch that a Frank Simons was on the phone for him.

"Hi Frank! Where is JJ?" Hotch stated getting straight to the point.

"Jennifer is fine Aaron. I will have you know that we have been enjoying each other immensely but I want to know more about this information that you have found on Leslie's case. What is it Aaron?"

"Ok but I want JJ back before I tell you anything Frank."

"No! You will get Jennifer back as soon as I confirm that you have indeed found some worthwhile information- no deal otherwise."

"No Frank I want proof that JJ is ok and only then will I even consider listening to you.."

A few seconds later the voice on the phone changed "Hotch?" she sounded so weak that Aaron wanted to weep. His heart went out to JJ and he wanted to hold her in his arms and never let go. "Yes JJ it's me! Are you ok?"

A quiet sob escaped her and Hotch knew that she was crying; "Oh baby it's going to be ok. I'm going to bring you home real soon ok? You just need to hang on for a bit longer ok? You have been so strong honey! It's only a couple of days more and then you will be home- ok?"

"Ok! You are coming for me right?" she sounded so small that Hotch wanted to reach into the phone for her. "Yes baby I am coming for you! You just hang in there!"

"Well I think that that was proof enough- now what do you know?"

"It is a journal Frank- written by one of the Sisters. It details how the girls took Leslie out into the woods that night and what happened afterwards. It also says exactly where we can find Leslie."

"I want that journal Aaron."

"You can have it as soon as I have JJ back."

It was decided that Hotch would bring the journal to an abandoned trail in the woods and hand it over to Frank. Once Frank had verified the details of the journal and its authenticity, JJ would be handed over. Hotch had no intention of waiting so long to get JJ back. He had a team ready to comb through the local industrial area in search of JJ. Close inspection of the videos had the BAU convinced that JJ was being held in an abandoned factory and thankfully Falls Creek was small enough for there to be limited places to search.

The plan went off without a hitch and Hotch was able to subdue the Unsub fairly quickly. His obsession with Leslie had made him reckless and he didn't take his usual precautions and now Hotch was blazing a trail back to Falls Creek in order to assist in the search for JJ. Rossi had informed him a while back that the abandoned building had many more levels and sublevels than they had originally anticipated so the search was taking longer. As he pulled up in front of the building that was serving as the search command post, Hotch heard the radio come alive with Rossi's frantic calls for the medics. They had found her! He ran as fast as his legs would carry him to the place and reached just in time to watch the medics put a tiny blonde frame onto the stretcher. He rushed over but was unable to see her before she was taken away in a speeding ambulance.

The doctors had been working on JJ for the last 4 hours and the waiting room had steadily been filling up with agents and police officers waiting for word on the young Sheriff. Everyone was pointedly ignoring the dark haired man sitting in the far corner with his head in his hands. Many doubted that Agent Hotchner had even moved in the last 4 hours but the wait was over when an exhausted surgeon approached them.

"I am assuming that you are all here for Sheriff Jareau" on seeing a general assent to his statement he continued "while I can only give the details of her condition to her medical proxy I can at least tell you all that while Sheriff Jareau has a very long road to recovery in front of her she will be ok!" there was a collective sigh of relief as the Doctor pulled Anna aside to give her details.

Even though JJ flatly refused to let anyone into her room apart from her friend, Hotch waited at the hospital all day and practically all night but she never allowed him into her room. The scant information that he managed to get from her friend was that she was in pretty bad shape with cuts and bruises all over her body. He knew that Frank had raped her multiple times and there were some whispers that she might even be pregnant with Frank's baby. 2 days after JJ's rescue it was time for the BAU to return to Quantico. The team had struck around a bit longer than necessary in order to "assist" in cementing the case against Frank but the team knew that they had really stuck around in the hopes that the young blonde Sheriff would feel up to a visit with their Unit Chief. But unfortunately that did not happen and now the BAU was all packed for the journey home. They had decided to stop at the hospital on the way to the airport in a last ditch effort to see JJ. After much coaxing on Rossi's part, the nurses finally allowed Hotch into JJ's room.

JJ was hooked up to lots of machines and looked tiny and frail in a much-too-large hospital gown. The bruised and gaunt face also did not help matters and JJ looked like a shell of her usual self. Hotch pulled a chair as close as possible to the bed and gently took the blonde's hand. A part of him wished that she would wake up so that he could look into her beautiful blue eyes once before he left but the other part of him was deathly afraid that she would throw him out if she woke up and found him at her bedside.

Slowly JJ started to stir and she opened her eyes to meet the dark gaze of Aaron Hotchner. _Oh God she did not want him to see her like this. She was all broken and he was there to see it all._ Watching the emotions flit across her face, Hotch just leaned forward to touch her cheek, "Hey how are you feeling JJ?"

Hearing his voice crack at the end of his question was enough to unleash her own torrent of tears and before JJ knew what was happening she was engulfed in Hotch's powerful embrace. He held her tight into his chest as she cried her pain away. He kept holding her till he felt her tears subside and she fell into an exhausted sleep. Knowing that there was no way that he could leave JJ now, Hotch told the team to leave without him and told them that he would be taking a few days off to concentrate of getting JJ better.

**6 months later**

She walked out of the elevator knowing that she was going to give the BAU a surprise. Through the glass doors, she could see Reid, Emily and Morgan chatting around what she assumed were their desks and while she watched Garcia joined them in all her colourful glory. JJ quietly made her way to the group and was happy to see Reid's eyes widen as he recognized her. "JJ? What are you doing here?"

"Why? I can't come and visit you guys?" JJ grinned back at the group of people who had become some of her closest friend in the last few months. With loud disclaimers of "Sure you can" JJ was immediately pulled into a hug by the vivacious computer whiz. After chatting with the team for the next ten minutes, JJ looked around for the man who was the reason for her visit and close relations with the BAU. Seeing her wandering gaze, Prentiss quickly responded "He is in his office. This last case was really tough on him even though he will never admit it." The blonde just gave the brunette a knowing look and climbed up the stairs to her boyfriend's office.

Looking at the dark haired man sitting behind the desk, JJ couldn't help but think back to that dark time 6 months ago. This man had held her at the lowest point in her life- a time when she had thought that she was pregnant with a psychopath's child (thank god for Frank's impotence) and was physically broken to what she had thought at the time was beyond repair. But he had repaired her- to the point that she had closed the door on her old life and was here to start her new one. 2 weeks ago Hotch had approached her with an offer to be the new media liaison for the BAU. He had explained how he felt that she would be the perfect fit for the role not to mention the fact that she would be with him on all his cases. 6 months ago he had promised her that he would never let her go and he had reiterated that promise every day since and while that was not the sole reason behind the job offer, she knew that it had a part to play in it. Hotch had admitted on multiple occasions that he was unable to sleep without her by his side and she found that she suffered from the same. So here she was- ready to start her new life with the love of her life by her side- and to think that she had initially hated the man!


End file.
